But the findings in Cities of Opportunity 2014 suggest that Sydney's global standing is restricted by its performance in transport and infrastructure, measures on which it placed 24th - or very nearly on par with Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

Sydney's costly public transport (only London ranked worse), its lack of taxis and lack of transit coverage across the whole city dragged its global ranking down.

On the measure of availability and cost of housing and housing and maintenance, however, the city ranked first.

Sydney also figured near the top of the field in measures comparing cities' environments and liveability, such as access to healthcare, crime rates, climate, and pollution.

It ranked the lowest of all cities for its cost of living. But conversely, it ranked towards the top of the "iPhone index", which measures how many working hours' income is needed to buy consumer products.